


Working Title

by datlantica



Category: Cobra Kai (Web Series), Karate Kid (Movies)
Genre: M/M, Post Season 3, basically just me writing whatever i want again, divorced-ish daniel, feelings realization kinda, if you see any mistakes that's between you and god, no beta as always :), non-dialogue heavy tbh, so season 3 spoilers (duh)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-14 06:08:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28790733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/datlantica/pseuds/datlantica
Summary: Everything is going well in the karate world.
Relationships: Daniel LaRusso/Johnny Lawrence
Comments: 6
Kudos: 58





	Working Title

**Author's Note:**

> "working title" is what i called this in my notes app, so "working title" it shall be dubbed! the titles kinda a little jab at the fact that with the dojo merger they're gonna need a new name.. probably
> 
> by the way,
> 
> both Johnny and Daniel have a little bit of a beard situation going on (imagine johnny at the beginning of s3 and ralphs character in lost cat corona if you're curious how beardy I'm talkin)

————————————

They still haven't decided on a dojo name, despite having beat Cobra Kai and Kreese in the tournament that was end-all. The final battle. Life or death, almost literally. 

The Cobras were ruthless and left more than a few puddles of blood on the mats of the arenas. 

But the dual dojo won nonetheless. Somehow. 

They're still not sure how they actually managed to pull it off. But it's a good, good feeling knowing Kreese is gone for good and they can enjoy themselves without too much trouble, aside from the obvious banter between Johnny and Daniel. 

Or Hawk (Eli?) and Demetri. Or Robby (who they somehow managed to get to join,) and Miguel. The list goes on. Merging dojos was actually a bad idea, if you look too hard into it. Too much bad blood between those two batches of students. 

But lots of good, too. Despite their differences, the ex-Cobras/Eagle Fangs and the Miyagi-Do kids do get along most of the time. They're more similar than they first thought. 

Their personalities all fit together nicely, and as a bonus, on the balance wheel in the pond at the dojo, they're all able to go through the routine without issue. 

But before long, months pass. 

Everything is going well in the karate world. 

Daniel and Amanda have decided to take a break for now. Karate was starting to take over Daniel's life again, and it was getting to be too much for Amanda to handle. 

Daniel's still in ownership of 50% of the dealership, but Amanda is the one actually on location 90% of the time. 

So Daniel gets closer to Johnny with all this new-found spare time. He spends less and less time at the dealership, and instead spends more time at the dojo instead, fixing up the cars and doing yardwork there to get his mind off of things. 

He decides to get a separate apartment just so he wouldn't have to run into Amanda too often. 

It's a 1 bedroom, 1 bath apartment close-ish to the dojo so he doesn't have to travel too far each day. He rides a bike to and from nearly every time. 

It's nice. 

Daniel and Johnny are eating dinner together in Daniel's new apartment after a long day of training, sitting opposite each other at a small table Johnny made Daniel buy for nights exactly like this one. 

(Not that he had to be told twice, he just kept putting it off for as long as he could until Johnny stepped in for whatever reason.) 

********

_"You need somewhere to sit, where else are you gonna set up your little computer, huh?"_

_"Alright, alright, I'll get the damn table!"_

_"Yeah. That's right, I know you are."_

********

Their knees keep knocking into eachother underneath the table as they eat. It makes them jump each time it happens, and every time without fail it causes them to make momentary eye contact and crack a small smile. 

Daniel raises his fork to Johnny. 

"Don't think you were being clever with those leg sweeps today, John. I know your motives." He purposely bumps his leg into Johnny's and looks all kinds of proud of himself. 

"I didn't think I was being clever," Johnny shoots back with a big, stupid grin, because he knew Daniel was going to bring it up. He could smell it coming from a mile away, that's how obvious it was to him. 

"Nice work on the balance wheel, though." Daniel mentions through a mouthful of cheap chinese food. (Johnny's treat for them both.) 

"You weren't too bad yourself, you know. But you telegraphed a little too much." 

Johnny stomps on the top of Daniel's foot, as if he and Daniel were children playing at a restaurant. He doesn't stomp too hard, but not light enough that it goes unnoticed. Daniel tries his hardest to pretend he didn't just nearly jump out of his seat and get into a fighting position. 

"We were supposed to be working together, I was telegraphing on purpose so you'd be able to mirror me." Daniel quirks up an eyebrow. He's gotten himself comfortable in his chair again. 

"Oh yeah? Or is that just what you want me to think?" Johnny jokes. 

Daniel throws out a fake, sarcastic little "ha ha." 

"You know, if I didn't telegraph we'd both still be soaking wet from how many times we'd have fallen into that pond." Daniel states. 

"Oh yeah, keep dreaming, Daniel." Johnny scoffs in a more light-hearted way. 

Daniel simply rolls his eyes and keeps eating. 

And that's about all that's said for half an hour. They're really both way too invested in their meals to say anything. 

"That's how you know food is delicious," Daniel explains. He's in the process of putting his plate in the sink, along with Johnny's. Johnny's sitting quietly on the fold-out couch in the living room. 

"Is if it renders the party silent, my mom used to tell me that when I was a kid. I think she just didn't like me yabbering away at the dinner table, but I feel like it holds some truth, maybe. I dunno. You know?" He's nearly yelling across the apartment so Johnny can hear him. 

"Yeah." Johnny agrees fully. Sid used to say the same thing all the time. But maybe it was true. 

They get the dishes washed after finishing their meal and they get the place swept, then decide to call it a night. Daniel waves to Johnny as he heads to his bedroom. 

He knows Johnny is most likely gonna stay up for a while watching TV. 

He climbs into bed and gets comfortable, pulling the blankets up over himself. 

Daniel closes his eyes and a little bit of time passes, but he feels a body behind him snake into the bed. The clock says 3am. 

"What's up?" He asks. He knows it's Johnny. He doesn't mind, despite the fact there was, in fact, a nice couch to sleep on a couple rooms over. 

"I don't feel like driving home." Is all Johnny says as he scoots closer to Daniel, obviously not thinking as he does it. "Hope you don't mind." 

"No, I— I don't, no. I get it." He lets Johnny get comfortable, then does the same himself. Daniel's just glad Johnny has almost fully ditched the habit of driving when he was clearly unfit to do so. 

Both of them lay there, unmoving and as silent at possible for a while. There's no need to talk. Daniel thinks about Johnny. Johnny thinks about the weather tomorrow. He hopes it won't be too cold to train, not like that's stopped him before. 

Daniel brings out his phone and starts browsing Twitter to slow his racing mind. He finally sees it's 3am. Closer to 4 now, actually. He also finally sees a second pair of eyes in the screen reflection. 

Johnny's been watching what he's doing over his shoulder the entire time. 

"You wanna watch stuff? Like on YouTube?" He asks. He turns over onto his left side and faces Johnny with his whole body. Johnny nods his head. "Yeah." He says. "To pass the time." He proposes. 

Daniel agrees and props his phone up between the both of them on a leg bent inward toward Johnny, and opens up the YouTube app. 

He lets Johnny pick the first video they watch. Something about muscle cars being rebuilt after sitting outside in bad weather for 20+ years. 

Daniel notices Johnny is completely sucked into the video. He shakes his head as he watches the car on-screen. 

"I can feel you staring at me, LaRusso," He says absentmindedly. He cracks a small smile. 

"I thought we were on a first name basis," Daniel teases. 

"Is that what you think?" Johnny's attention gets broken away from the screen and he turns his head up to look at Daniel again. He stares at him, into his eyes. He's found himself searching deep in those baby browns Daniel has for only about the 3,000th time this year alone. 

And Daniel's expression softens, as it always does when Johnny's looking at him like that. He suddenly realizes that right now in this moment is where he wouldn't mind spending the rest of forever in. 

After all the years he spent thinking about the bad parts of Johnny, this moment is enough to silence all of it and make it seem like a distant cry you're not certain you really heard. This moment is one that another 30+ years down the line he's going to remember instead. 

Not the anger, or the hurt. Just the content. The silence and the low lighting on Johnny's face as some guy explains cars in the background. 

He smiles at Daniel. 

And Daniel realizes what he should've 30 years ago. 

"Yeah. Yeah, that is what I think, actually." 

He pushes himself forward, closes the gap between them. He very gently kisses Johnny and Johnny doesn't fight back, he just hums happily into the gesture, a hand reaching up to rest on Daniel's face, thumbing the stubble on his cheek slowly as he kisses back. 

Daniel just barely breaks the kiss and angles his head so their foreheads are together, and he stares into Johnny's eyes again. 

"You drive me crazy, John Lawrence. Did you know that?" He mumbles while shaking his head against the other man's. His voice is soft. 

"Ahuh, I do know. Is that a bad thing, Daniel Larusso?" Johnny asks, putting emphasis on his name to poke a little fun at the way his own name was said. The hand that was on Daniel's face moves down to rest on his waist instead. 

"Not anymore, and not ever again." Daniel says. 

"A good kind of crazy, then?" 

"Yeah, yeah! Exactly. You drive me the exact right kind of crazy," Daniel enthuses. "Just a shame it took me 30 years to figure out, right?" 

"Right." Johnny grins as he nods his head, and pulls Daniel into another kiss.

————————————

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading <33


End file.
